The Search for Significance

Renewing The Mind 133
longsuffering and capable of loving correction
and instruction. We may fail Him, but we are still
His children.
It is interesting that when the Holy Spirit gave
us a new spirit, He did not give us a totally renewed
mind. Although we have the Spirit of
Christ living within us to enable us to evaluate
our experiences, our minds tend to dwell on the
worldly thoughts of our old nature instead of on
God's truth. As babes in Christ, we are children in
conflict, torn between the new godly motivation to
glorify Christ and the old motivations of lust and
pride. Paul recognized that conflict. He wrote the
Christians in Rome:
"I find then the principle that evil is
present in me, the one who wishes to do
good. For I joyfully concur with the law
of God in the inner man, but I see a different
law in the members of my body,
waging war against the law of my mind,
and making me a prisoner of the law of
sin which is in my members. Wretched
man that I am! Who will set me free
from the body of this death? Thanks be
to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! ~"
(Romans 7:21-25)
How then can we break free from the law of
sin and begin to grow in Christ? How can we assist
the process that will enable us to follow
Christ? To change our behavior, we must reject
the earthly thoughts and replace them with spiritual
thoughts. Solomon said, "As a man thinks
within himself, so he is" (Proverbs 23:7). Therefore,
the way we think affects the way we feel, the
way we perceive ourselves and others, and ultimately,
the way we act. The way we think determines
whether we will live according to God's
truth or the world's value system. Still writing to